2005 News Items
Archives of all past news items, organized by year:
PHANTOM VOTERS, THANKS TO THE CENSUS
by New York Times Editorial Board , New York Times
December 27, 2005
It
involves counting prison inmates in the district where they are
confined rather than where they actually live. The Census Bureau could
fix this problem in a heartbeat, so it needs to get a move on.
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MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN:
by Marian Wright Edelman, NNPA
December 22, 2005
Experts
praise Missouri’s Division of Youth Services as a ’guiding light’ of
juvenile justice reform, and they credit Mark Steward, the division’s
recently retired director, with building - and sustaining - the finest
state juvenile corrections system in the country
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The Value of Black Life in Maryland
by Parris Glendening , Washington Post
December 18, 2005
Days
before I left office in January 2003, the study was released. Examining
the records of more than 1,300 death-penalty-eligible cases between
1978 and 1999, criminologist Raymond Paternoster concluded that both
geographic and racial disparities existed.
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Senate Deals Setback to Bush on Patriot Act
by Charles Babington , Washington Post
December 16, 2005
The
Patriot Act, approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, made
it easier for the FBI to conduct secret searches, monitor telephone
calls and e-mails, and obtain bank records and other personal documents
in connection with terrorism investigations.
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DNA Tests Exonerate 2 Former Prisoners
by Michael D. Shear and Jamie Stockwell , Washington Post
December 15, 2005
Newly
tested DNA from rapes committed more than 20 years ago has exonerated
two Virginians who had each spent more than a decade behind bars,
reigniting a national debate about post-conviction testing of
biological evidence.
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Tookie Williams Is Executed
by Jenifer Warren and Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times
December 13, 2005
Stanley
Tookie Williams, whose self-described evolution from gang thug to
antiviolence crusader won him an international following and
nominations for a Nobel Peace Prize, was executed by lethal injection
early today, hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to spare
his life.
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Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency for Williams
by DAVID KRAVETS , Associated Press
Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday refused to spare the life of Stanley
Tookie Williams, the founder of the murderous Crips gang who awaited
execution after midnight in a case that stirred debate over capital
punishment and the possibility of redemption on death row.
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Justices Reject Williams’ Appeal
by By Kenneth R. Weiss and Steve Chawkins , The Los Angeles Times
December 12, 2005
The
California Supreme Court on Sunday rejected a last-minute legal effort
to block Tuesday’s execution of convicted murderer Stanley Tookie
Williams, while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put off announcing any
decision on whether to spare his life until today.
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Rice Seeks To Clarify Policy on Prisoners
by Glenn Kessler and Josh White , Washington Post
December 8, 2005
In
Washington, supporters of an anti-torture bill sponsored by Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.), a former prisoner of war, greeted her statement as a
sign that the White House was abandoning claims that the measure could
complicate the fight against international terrorism.
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All-White Police Academy Class in St. Louis Draws Criticism
by Bill Beene, Special to the NNPA from the St. Louis American
There
is still discrimination within the police department! Black officers
are not getting the opportunities within the police department that
White officers are getting. I can see it when I go around the various
districts. There is racism and we must attack it.
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Maryland Executes Woman's Killer
by Eric Rich and Daniel de Vise, The Washington Post
December 6, 2005
Death
row inmate Wesley E. Baker died by lethal injection Monday night,
becoming the first black man executed in Maryland since a
state-sponsored study found disparities, by race and geography, in how
the death penalty law is used.
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Corner to Corner provides options for former drug dealers
by Melde Rutledge , Special to the NNPA from the Carolina Peacemaker
Overall,
the church reported 30 graduates from this year’s C2C Conference. Mack
said the program may have a positive impact on the pending court cases
of some C2C graduates, because they participated in this prevention
program and strove to make a change in their lifestyles.
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Rappers Step Up to Save Tookie
by Davy D, Daveyd.com
November 21, 2005
With
a less then 3 weeks away to the December 13th execution date of Crips
gang founder turned children’s advocate and 5 Time Noble Peace prize
nominee Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams, some of the West Coasts biggest Hip Hop
starts are stepping up and speaking out.
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Disciplinary actions soar at area schools
by jeff tobin , Santa Cruz Sentinel
November 20, 2005
In
Santa Cruz County, the number of behavioral incidents leading to
suspension rose 36 percent from the 2003-04 school year to 2004-05.
Expulsions soared by almost 60 percent during the same time period.
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Number in prison or on supervision nearly 7 million
by Rebecca Carroll, Associated Press , Houston Chronicle
November 2, 2005
Beck
attributed the overall rise in the number of people under correctional
supervision to sentencing reforms of the 1990s. The nation’s
incarcerated population has been growing for more than 30 years, with a
sharp rise in the last decade.
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Youth prison reform criticized
by B.J. Reyes , The Honolulu Star-Bulletin
State
officials have been too slow to draft and implement new critical
policies for improvements at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, a
key state lawmaker said following the first in a series of legislative
briefings about conditions at the youth prison.
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Report: Women account for nearly 1 in 4 arrests
by REBECCA CARROLL, Associated Press
October 23, 2005
The
number of women incarcerated in state and federal prisons in 2004 was
up 4 percent compared with 2003, nearly double the 1.8 percent increase
among men, the study said. In 1995, women made up 6.1 percent of all
inmates in those facilities.
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Three-strikes hits, but not not a homer
by Mason Stockstill, Staff Writer , Los Angeles Daily Bulletin
October 22, 2005
He
points to other factors involved in the decrease such as an improved
national economy, the rise in computerized crime tracking and a decline
in the population aged 15 to 34 years old -- the prime age at which
most crimes are committed.
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The Crime of Being Black
by Malik Russell, Blackpressusa.com
October 20, 2005
They
often say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I would add to an
additional adage that one man’s crime is another’s job. Most pundits
and media sources accept hands down that African-Americans and Latinos
are disproportionately incarcerated for the simple reason that they
commit more crime. This is a myth.
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Quick and Dirty | Juvenile Justice
by Christina Royster-Hemby , Baltimore City Paper
October 12, 2005
“While
youth of color are one-third of American adolescents, they are
two-thirds of youth in juvenile facilities,” the report notes. It says
that youth of color receive “harsher treatment . . . compared to their
white counterparts, even when charged with similar offenses.”
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Commentary:A Better Cure Than Abortion
by William Raspberry, The Washington Post
October 10, 2005
You
could challenge the underlying premise that blacks commit a
disproportionate amount of the nation’s crime -- which is what the
Justice Policy Institute is trying to do.
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Democrats Go After William Bennett, Salem Radio Network, FCC
by David Swanson , American Chronicle
BENNETT:…one
of the arguments in this book "Freakonomics" that they make is that the
declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that
one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well –
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U.S. crime rate holds at 30-year low
by Mark Sherman, Associated Press, USA TODAY
September 26, 2005
The
Justice Policy Institute, which advocates alternatives to
incarceration, said the report offered good news and further reason to
"begin investing in community-based policing and local organizations
that succeed in increasing public safety."
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MARYLAND: Advocates call for review of sentencing guidelines
by ANNA BAILEY , DC Examiner Staff Writer
September 12, 2005
The
Campaign for Treatment Not Incarceration found that individuals
currently convicted of a single drug offense in Maryland were treated
more harshly than those convicted of assault, burglary or robbery
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HOW TO HELP Victims of Hurricane Katrina
by Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children
September 4, 2005
In
Louisiana right now, there are hundreds of kids locked up who have no
idea if their families are alive or not? The youth from the Orleans
Parish Detention Center arrived at Jetson Correctional Center for Youth
on Wednesday, covered in sewage, starving, dehydrated, having been
stranded for days with no water or food.
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A process of juror elimination
by STEVE MCGONIGLE, HOLLY BECKA, JENNIFER LAFLEUR and TIM WYATT, Dallas Morning News
August 21, 2005
Racial
discrimination was once so raw in Dallas County that a black college
president who tried to serve on a jury was flung headfirst down the
courthouse steps while sheriff’s deputies watched.
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Office Hours: Activism and Change in the Academy
by Gary Nelson and Stephen Watt. , Black Enterprise Magazine
August 10, 2005
Whereas
New York spent more than twice as much on universities than on prisons
in 1988, the state now spends $275 million more on prisons than on
state and city colleges," observed a 1998 report issued jointly by the
Correctional Association of New York and the Justice Policy Institute.
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Debunking the Drug War
by John Tierney, New York Times
August 9, 2005
In
Georgia they’re prosecuting dozens of Indian convenience-store clerks
and managers for selling cold medicine and other legal products. As
Kate Zernike reported in The Times, some of them spoke little English
and seemed to have no idea the medicine was being used to make meth.
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US churches try to help ex-prisoners stay straight
by Alan Elsner , Reuters
August 8, 2005
In
Washington D.C., where around 3,000 ex-felons return to the community
each year, Rev. Donald Isaac runs East of the River --a partnership
among clergy, police and the community that tries to help released
prisoners by returning them to the religious life many of them grew up
in, helping them find jobs and housing and equipping them with basic
skills.
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Harsh Medicine
by PAUL von ZIELBAUER , New York Times
August 1, 2005
In
one drafty, rat-infested warehouse once reserved for chain gangs, the
state quarantined its male prisoners with H.I.V. and AIDS, until the
extraordinary death toll - 36 inmates from 1999 to 2002 - moved inmates
to sue and the government to promise change.
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CT: Rell to close Juvenile Training Center
by CARA RUBINSKY , Associated Press
August 1, 2005
Gov.
M. Jodi Rell on Monday announced plans to close the troubled
Connecticut Juvenile Training School, which was built four years ago at
a cost of $57 million.
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What's Causing So Many Inmate Suicides
by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
August 1, 2005
The
latest suicide, last Sunday, was particularly tragic. It involved a
17-year-old inmate at the Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire, who
used a bedsheet to hang himself - the method used in the vast majority
of inmate suicides.
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Private Prisons Experience Business Surge
by By DAVID CRARY, Associated Press
July 31, 2005
Since
2000, the number of federal inmates in private facilities _ prisons and
halfway houses _ has increased by two-thirds to more than 24,000.
Thousands more detainees not convicted of crimes are confined in
for-profit facilities, which now hold roughly 14 percent of all federal
prisoners, compared to less than 6 percent of state inmates.
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Special Report: Race, Place, and the Perils of Prisonomics
by Paul Street , Z Magazine Online
In
15 percent black Illinois, 64 percent of the state’s prisoners were
African Americans. The state’s incarceration rate for blacks was 1,550,
compared to 127 for whites, per 100,000. There were nearly 20,000 more
black males in the Illinois prison system than the number of black
males enrolled in the state’s public universities.
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Op-Ed: They paid for their crime and need a second chance
by Dr. Reginald Wilkinson, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Ohio
has taken a leadership role in implementing reentry programming. As
soon as an inmate is admitted to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation
and Correction the reentry link begins.
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Prison expansion project is halted
by CARLOS CAMPOS, CHARLES YOO , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
June 30, 2005
Neighbors were glad to hear about the prison system's plans to stop the
expansion of the prison off Stonewall Tell Road near Union City. They
had formed a group opposing the expansion and filed a lawsuit to try to
stop it.
Op-Ed: Feds' re-entry bill helps us all
by Wayne Thompson , The Oklahoman
June 24, 2005
A plethora of studies document the fact that re-entry
programs reduce recidivism and make our communities safer. According to
one of them, in Texas only 7 percent of the people completing the
state's substance abuse program returned to prison after two years. A
federal Bureau of Prisons study showed a 33 percent drop in the
recidivism rate among federal prisoners who participated in vocational
and apprenticeship training.
Law officials seek sentencing changes
by Jon Sarche, Associated Press, Deseret Morning News
June 23, 2005
In the past several years, the American Bar Association
and Supreme Court justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen G. Breyer
have criticized mandatory minimum sentencing laws as too inflexible.
Others have said they give prosecutors too much say in determining
sentences.
War on Crime, Not on Drugs
by Norm Stamper, AlterNet
June 15, 2005
A handful of politicians and even a police chief or two
do favor decriminalization. I know this because they whisper
endorsements in the privacy of their offices or over an adult beverage
after a drug conference. Why don't they speak up? They're scared. They
think they'll be voted out of office or forced to turn in their badges.
Inmate's letter helped pass law
by RUBÉN ROSARIO , St. Paul Pioneer Press
June 6, 2005
"It was one of the most compelling letters I have read,''
recalled state Sen. Tom Neuville, R-Northfield, who received a copy
earlier this year along with other members of the Senate's Crime
Prevention and Public Safety committee.
Court Backs Sentencing Reviews
by Henry Weinstein , Los Angeles Times
June 3, 2005
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that
thousands of inmates in California and eight other Western states could
challenge prison sentences imposed before the U.S. Supreme Court freed
judges from mandatory sentencing guidelines
Arrested Development After Prison Boom, A Focus on Hurdles Faced by Ex-Cons Housing, Work -- Even an ID Can Be Hard to Attain
by Gary Fields, the Wall Street Journal
May 24, 2005
Ms. Smith is one of more than 630,000 people released each
year from corrections institutions in the U.S. Not surprisingly, people
who have been locked up for many years, often poorly educated and
lacking in financial support, face a range of obstacles to re-entering
society
Tough on gangs, hard on states
by The Virginian-Pilot
May 23, 2005
But under the terms of the "Gangbusters" legislation, a
"criminal street gang" is at least three people who commit two or more
gang crimes (one of which must be violent), now defined as a host of
drug crimes and a multitude of other felonies
House OKs bill making a federal case of some street-gang crimes
by Erica Werner , Associated Press
May 12, 2005
A bill, approved 279-144, would expand the range of gang
crimes punishable by death, establish minimum mandatory sentences,
authorize the prosecution of 16- and 17-year-old gang members in
federal court as adults, and extend the statute of limitations for all
violent crimes from five to 15 years.
House 'Gang' Bill Criticized by Youth Advocates
by Michelle Chen, The New Standard
May 12, 2005
As precariously-worded "anti-gang" legislation moves
through Congress, critics say its definition of "gang member,"
ham-fisted national focus and conventional lock-'em-up approach are
counterproductive.
JPI HAS MOVED--NEW PHONE NUMBER
WE HAVE MOVED TO A NEW OFFICE
Op-Ed: Treating youths as people rather than criminals does most good
by Jason Ziedenberg
April 12, 2005
While we know that trying youths as adults aggravates
crime, we know very little about the amorphous category of gang
"related" crime. The National Crime Information Center casts a wide net
over America's youth, defining gangs as three or more people engaged in
criminal or deliquent conduct---something so broad that three young
people misbehaving in the way many of their parents did would today be
classified as gang activity.
Prisoners of the Census: Electoral and Financial Consequences of Counting Prisoners Where They Go, Not Where They Come From
by Eric Lotke & Peter Wagner
March 30, 2005
The U.S. Census Bureau counts people in prison where their
bodies are confined-in prison-not the communities they come from and
where they are genuine members.This would be an item of statistical
trivia, but the new numbers give it new meaning. More people now live
in prison and jail than in our three least populous states combined
Commissioner Wants To Put GPS Chips In Ex-Cons
by Associated Press
March 29, 2005
A Butler County commissioner has suggested that computer
microchips be implanted in ex-convicts on probation so they can be
tracked and located at any time.
In Break From Past, Prisons Begin Focusing More On Rehab
by By JENIFER WARREN, The Day Newspaper
March 28, 2005
By insisting that California make rehabilitation a focus
of prison life, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is joining a national
movement of political leaders who believe it is time for a new approach
to incarceration.
Maryland bill requiring ID defeated
by David Nitkin, Baltimore Sun
March 23, 2005
Minority lawmakers and civil rights groups claimed victory
yesterday after blocking a bill that would have made it a crime for
people to refuse to identify themselves to police.
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Baltimore Sun:
Study: 1 in 5 young black city men in jail
by Ryan Davis
March 16, 2005
The Justice Policy Institute, which favors alternatives to prison,
argues in its report that much of the money spent on incarceration
would be better spent on drug treatment and community redevelopment.
The report combines Maryland incarceration statistics with conclusions
from selected sociological studies to raise questions about the
efficacy of imprisonment in lowering crime.
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Should Prior Offenders Get Financial Aid?
by Walter Higgins, BlackAmericaWeb.com
March 10, 2005
The Removing Impediments to Student's Education Act, authored by Rep.
Barney Frank (D-Mass.), would restore eligibility for federal aid to
qualified students from low and middle income families and eliminate
the need for the question about drug convictions on the free
application for federal student aid.
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Black Leadership Wants Funds Withheld from Texas Due to Profiling
by Michael H. Cottman
March 2, 2005
Racial profiling by Texas police is such a serious concern that it may
be necessary to sponsor congressional hearings and possibly withhold
the state's federal transportation funding, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
(D-TX) said in an interview this week.
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High Court Ends Death Penalty for Youths
by Hope Yen
March 1, 2005
A closely divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that it's
unconstitutional to execute juvenile killers, ending a practice in 19
states that has been roundly condemned by many of America's closest
allies.
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Report: Thousands wrongly convicted each year
Thousands of suspects unable to afford lawyers are wrongly convicted
each year because they are pressured to accept guilty pleas or have
incompetent attorneys, the American Bar Association says in a report.
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Three Strikes Law Hits People of Color Hardest
by Chauncey Bailey
February 4, 2005
"We're overcrowding prisons with generations of young men of color at
$31,000 a year. Nearly two-thirds are locked up for nonviolent
offenses," says John W. Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban
League.
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Bush to Seek More Than $400 Million for Crime-Related Programs
by Jay Newton-Small
February 4, 2005
A new $150 million program to keep young men out of gangs would be
headed by First Lady Laura Bush, the officials, speaking on condition
of anonymity, told reporters on a conference call. Of the 75,000
estimated gang members in the U.S., half are Hispanic and a third
black, an official said
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Lobbyists' wish: Mention my issue
by Josephine Hearn
February 3, 2005
Jason Ziedenberg, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute,
an anti-prison group, said Bush derived political benefit from his
reference last year to a program to help ex-inmates make the transition
back to society.
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National Bar Association Magazine:
The Misperceptions Of 3 Strikes Laws
by Malik Russell
In looking around the nation, 23 states maintain some version of a
Three Strikes law, while most states maintain at least some form of
mandatory minimum laws. The impact that these laws have had is
staggering. Today over 2 million individuals are incarcerated in jails
or prisons, and nearly 7 million are under the jurisdiction of the
criminal justice system including parole and probation.
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10.5% of sex offenders put in single city ZIP code
by Carlos Sadovi & Rex W. Huppke, Chicago Tribune
January 31, 2005
More than 10 percent of sex offenders on parole in Illinois live on
Chicago's South Side in poor African-American neighborhoods where group
homes have been set up--a practice that has angered residents and city
leaders.
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Mayor Signs Changes for D.C. Youth Services
January 21, 2005
The District of Columbia government created a new agency Friday to care
for young people in the criminal justice system, giving Mayor Anthony
A. Williams more direct responsibility for reform of troubled juvenile
programs.
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The Browning of Justice
by Roberto Lovato, Pacific News Service
January 13, 2005
In this sense, Alberto Gonzales represents a milestone in the browning
of Justice, which refers to how Latinos are interfacing with and
becoming part of the justice system. Young Latinos are the fastest
growing and largest population in California prisons
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Reforming America's obsession with incarceration
by Marc H. Morial
For three decades now, the "get tough" and "out of sight, out of mind"
posture have constituted - and distorted - America's response to the
problem of violent crime and other so-called street crime offenses,
particularly drug use and drug trafficking.
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Prisoners and the Census
by Eric Lotke
The way the Census Bureau counts their bodies increases the political
power of representatives in those districts, even though
disenfranchisement
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